A gentleman told my son he had a bad signal on psk. He told me about what happened. I got on the radio and signed on. The same rig the same everything, Just so happens that fellow answered my call and told me you have a beautiful signal, there was another guy from your city that had the same name that was just on here he had a trashy bad signal. I explained to him that "guy" was my son. well,you're radio sounds much better" Same rig same everything I just took control. I didn't change any settings anything at all. Yet,magically,I had a clean signal. I was glad to know my signal passed muster but, why is it when my son operates it seems to get under this guy's skin? Three years ago he called and sent an email telling me about my son's operating practices and "I, needed to talk with that young man." he also reminded me in the email he called at "His expense L.D."

The first thing I would do is write this guy's callsign on a piece of paper and post it the shack to remind everyone to never ever work this guy again under any circumstances for any reason.

The second thing I would do is stop calling him a gentleman!

As far as the rest of the story, something does not pass the smell test. I just get the feeling that we are not hearing the whole story. I just can't imagine why some guy out there would randomly pick on your son for no reason whatsoever. Yes, there are some really rude people out there, but to take the time to look up your phone number and call you is beyond the realm of reason. And to have him contact you not once, but twice just doesn't make any sense at all.

And why did this guy contact you? I have heard my fair share of young'uns exhibiting "less-than-professional" on-air behavior, but I have never thought of calling their father and advising him to take his kid out behind the woodshed and teach him a lesson. Once in a very great while, I will send someone an email if their signal really sucks, but why on earth would I contact their parents?

Other than the time 3 years ago and last weekend I didn't even know the guy. "He did BTW: send an eqsl 599. It wasn't the son's operating procedure that promted it. "It was the so called "Nasty signal" which mysteriously went away changing OP seats with my son?

The only thing I could think of here, assuming all else is equal (antenna pointing the same way, same power levels, same everything else on BOTH ENDS of the QSO) is the audio frequency in use.

Perhaps your son was low in the audio range, down around +500 or so, and you were much higher +1000, +1500, etc. If the rig's audio is not quite linear, or if the soundcard is a cheap one with some noise, then it COULD generate some extra "noise" in the transmitted signal if everything isn't smooth across the spectrum...or if the audio processor on the rig is left on, you could be having some problems.

Just a guess as unless you can say that EVERYTHING is exactly equal, it is hard to know for sure.

Or, it could just be that the "gentleman" has something against your son.

You didn't mention your son's call sign or age. Judging from your post it must be assumed your son lives with you. Again assuming your son has done nothing (that you are aware of) to prompt the other party to become irate, perhaps your son has a profile posted somewhere that reveals his age. Unfortunately there are grumpy operators (could be any age) that are intolerant of young operators, Yl's, XYL's, anyone not addicted to Morse code, etc., etc., ad infinitum. As long as you are positive your son's operating practices are not at fault, it is best to shun this person unless he engages in harassment. LOL, W0NTS

The "IMD meter" in most PSK program displays, can be horribly affected by broad adjacent signals or high rep-rate noise or even keyclick from CW signals far down the band.

I'd almost rather the faulty "IMD meter" not show up at all.

Do not take it personally when someone tells you, your signal has a problem. I've gotten many many friendly "OO" cards over the years and have helped some locals spot some tricky problems in their setups. Has to be done with friendliness turned up to the max on all sides, because maybe half the time the problem is in the receive end *especially when it comes to strong local signals*.

There can be any number of reasons for the guy thinking your son's signal was bad. A change in propagation is just one of them. I think all things considered, I'd just not worry a lot about it and not answer that guy anymore.As for the 'OO' card thingy, I'm still trying to WAS-OO! No, I don't intentionally do something bad/wrong, but in a number of instances that particular 'OO' didn't have a clue about what was happening. Comes in partway through a conversation and has a problem with something said, or honestly doesn't know what they are talking about. Unfortunately, that's not as 'rare' as it could be, you know? I can honestly say that in the 40-some years I've operated that I've gotten maybe 4 - 5 'OO' cards. One or two of them were certainly justified, but most weren't. Long stories about them, not going into it here.Oh! And a few of us used to send out 'OO-O' cards! Sort of graded the 'OO' on his/her performance. That was usually good for a laugh or two also. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever even heard of a female 'OO'! Oh well... - Paul

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